Jordan Anthony won his first NCAA sprint title in 2025 before becoming the U.S. champion three weeks ago. Now, at the age of 21, he is a world champion on his first trip abroad.
Anthony won the 60 meters at the World Indoor Track and Field Championships nine months after turning pro from the University of Arkansas, where he also played wide receiver.
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On Friday, he ran a time of 6.41 seconds in Torun, Poland, beating Jamaican Olympic and world 100m silver medalist Kishane Thompson (he shared silver with Belgium’s Simon Verherstraeten in 6.45 seconds).
Anthony is now tied for fourth-fastest in the history of the event.
“Our goal is to come back with a gold medal” he said After the preliminaries on Friday. “Time is time. I’m not going to chase time. I learned when I was young, don’t chase time, chase medals. So now I’m chasing gold. If I don’t get there, oh, well, I’m a young guy. I’ve got a few years left.”
Indoor world: result | Broadcast schedule
Mondo Duplantis
Mondo Duplantis returns to dreamland at World Indoor Championships
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Mondo Duplantis headlines the World Indoor Athletics Championships from Friday to Sunday, live on Peacock.
Anthony is the fourth-youngest man to win the indoor 60m world title, following three other Americans: Trayvon Bromell in 2016, Justin Gatlin in 2003 and Lee McCray in 2017.
Anthony was a member of Olympic 100m gold medalist Noah Lyles’ professional team in Clermont, Florida.
He enters worlds with the fastest time in the world (6.43 seconds) in the 2026 60m, a distance that is primarily run only during the winter indoor season.
At the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships earlier this month, Anthony won the 60-meter race on a field that included Lyles, who later handed the championship belt to his training partner.
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“Nothing’s going to stop me,” Anthony said Friday. “Noah told me before I came here, get used to the unexpected. You never know what’s going to happen.”
He learned this after undergoing a drug test on Thursday. While taking a blood sample, doping control officials missed a vein in his left arm, resulting in what Anthony described as a blood clot “the size of a football.”
Also on Friday, Chase Jackson completed her indoor medal collection with her first gold medal in the shot put.
Jackson, a two-time world outdoor champion, threw a throw of 20.14 meters.
“I can retire indoors,” she told coach Paul Wilson as she celebrated her victory.
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“I’m probably being a little dramatic because I do hate (being indoors),” she later said. “I’m not ready for (the indoor season). Everyone is different, but for me, being indoors, there’s nothing against it. It’s more about me. It’s hard for me to get ready. I like to take long breaks from outdoor activities.”
At the USATF Indoor Championships, Jackson broke the American indoor record with a throw of 20.44 meters.
She shares the record with 2016 Olympic gold medalist Michelle Carter at 20.21. Jackson also holds the American outdoor record of 20.95.
Her main goal was to throw 21 meters, something no woman had accomplished since New Zealand’s Valerie Adams in 2012.
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Indoor World continues Saturday, live Peacock and NBCSN.
Cole Hawk
How to watch the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships
The 2026 World Indoor Championships are broadcast live on Peacock and NBCSN in Toruń, Poland.
